Souls That Bind
by LifeWithoutMind
Summary: Behold the misadventures of Alric Sunblade and Nicchi Moondagger, two companions hellbent to be free of each other, but thrown into the a fate together that they cannot escape... sorry for bad summary, first fanfic, enjoy!
1. Chapter 1

**Souls That Bind**

Chapter 1- Sunblade & Moonglade

Author's Notes~ A warm welcome to you the reader, So before we embark on the adventure I'd like to get some things out the the way first of all, this is my first fanfic EVER, so please excuse me if its a bit messy in places, but as I said this is my first actual story, also this story is has no beta reader, so if you want to be the first beta-reader PM me! Now on with the adventure

Disclaimer: Skyrim belongs to Bethesda, but with that said Alric and Nicchi both belong to me, with that out of the way I won't hold you a moment longer. Enjoy!

Windhelm was cold, thought Nicchi, even the people wouldn't stop giving her icy looks or the cold shoulder, maybe because she was a dark elf when she first entered someone accused her of being a Thalmor spy, but all that didn't matter, the only thing that mattered was her contract, she shuddered at the thought of it, her contract was to remove a stormcloak officer who'd been causing a bit of trouble from service, it didn't matter how just so long that he cannot fight "just sneak into his house, kill him and then run out, simple as that" Nicchi kept telling herself, but she knew it wouldn't be that easy, especially with the the fact that this officer had killed the last two operatives sent after him, but she had been planning this for nearly two weeks and could't afford to fail, she only hoped that everything would go to plan…

It was one in the morning when Nicchi decided she would proceed with her plan, and after coaxing some information out of a drunken nord by buying him some mead, she had found out that Alric Sunblade was the officer in questions name, and that he was one of Ulfric's most trusted officers. It was then that she realized this might be even harder than she expected, but her determination was determined to carry this contract out, and so with that she headed towards, Alric's house.

Alric's house was surprisingly clean and obviously well cared for also much to her surprise. The entire first floor had nearly no weapons in it but instead was filled with books, scrolls, maps, and notes, when she got to the second floor she was almost over whelmed with the sheer amount of weapons and armor there, everywhere she looked there where weapons or armor of some sort, from a full set of ebony armor to the assorted daggers, swords, axes, bows, great-swords, war-hammers, and battle-axes, but the one thing that caught her attention the most was a mounted ebony great-sword etched with runes that glowed orange like the sun, it was possibly the most captivating weapon she had ever seen, when she touched the hilt of the blade it writhed and morphed startling her and when she looked back the great-sword was gone, but in its place was a dagger and sheath right next to it, Nicchi reached out for the dagger and sheath and tied it to her belt deciding it would be a waste to leave such a valuable and powerful weapon to rot with the soon to be dead Alric, she looked around and saw a door, slightly open, as if it was beaconing her into the room that lay beyond, as she crept up to the room she could hear the sounds of breathing, she almost laughed with excitement when she found who she presumed to Alric inside, his black hair and short beard fitted the description given to her by the drunken nord, and as she drew her newly found dagger she almost dropped the dagger when it came out of it's sheath with a slight humming sound, and the runes glowed a bluish hew instead of its original orangish yellow, hoping Alric hadn't heard the humming she crept closer to his bed and raised the dagger above her head, just before she brought it down Alric's hand shot up, catching her wrist and his eyes shot open, before she had time to react Alric's other hand darted out, catching her in the gut, sending her sprawling across the floor, he rolled out of the bed and grabbed one of the great-swords from the weapon rack next to him, she narrowly dodged his first swing and countered with a stab towards his chest, Alric ducked under and brought his great sword up, drawing blood on her upper arm, she cried out in pain and doubled over when she received a kick to the gut, he was about to bring his great-sword down on her head when she tripped him, but on the way down he grabbed her cut arm and brought it around with a sickening _snap_ Her arm broke causing her to cry out once again, realizing that if she didn't do something fast, she was going to die, she shoved her good hand into the spot where his heart would be and muttered an incantation, and Alric let go, crying out as he stumbled back, her hand print burned onto his chest, he tried rushing at her but doubled over when pain jolted through his body, "W-what...did you do?" he panted, his voice tired, "I created soul-bond" Nicchi replied, before falling in a chair nearby "care to elaborate?" Alric retorted, Nicchi, hesitated for a second before answering "It is an old incantation, that I 'acquired' from a necromancer's lair, your soul is bound to mine, so if I die you die, and vice versa but it has side effects, one of them being, if you attempt to cause me pain the spell can, and will hurt you instead" she was surprised when he started to smile, then he burst into laughter "you do realize that your mission to kill me has now failed" he said, picking up one of his great-swords, this one looking to be made out of some sort of bone, the runes carved along the blade glowed blood red, at first she thought he was going to strike out at her, but she realized that was not the case when he leaned in back against the stand, and went to pick another one up also placing it back on the stand "how do you know that I wanted to kill you?" said Nicchi, "the Thalmor sent you? Yes? To 'relieve me from duty' as the last one sent after me said? What better and more permanent way to cease my career than to end my life?" his voice calm, but his eyes were like daggers, stabbing right her soul "I was not tasked to kill you necessarily thought that is indeed what the thalmor had in mind, but since that is no longer an option…" Nicchi said while trying to think of another way to fulfill her contract "so what are you going to do with me now? Sell me into slavery? Force me to join the legion? Make me fight for gold?" he asked, it took Nicchi a couple of minutes for her to decide, while Alric continued cleaning up his room "I have contacts that would pay good money for a decent gladiator in the arena…its decided then, you will come with me to the Cyrodiil and become a gladiator until the Thalmor deem it safe for you to return to your former life, which, If know my superiors, will never happen in your life" she said with a sneer "so be it, if that is the price of my actions then I will go with you, will you allow to me gather my things, or must I earn that to?" he said with a hint of annoyance in his voice "no we are to leave immediately, after you get a shirt on" she said pointing to what looked like a cupboard, Alric walked up to it and pulled on a blood red shirt and black coat "then we best not delay" he said before walking towards the door

Author's Notes: I will be posting a profile of Alric and Nicchi as a second story under the title Souls that Bind: Profiles. Also commenting and reviewing helps me improve the story, not sure when the next chapter will be up, it really depends on the feedback I get from this chapter :)


	2. Chapter 2

Souls That Bind

Chapter 2- Road to Fort Darven

Authors Notes~ Fort Darven is made up by me mainly for more easy writing, I mean no-one wants to go through an entire fort just to write about every turn and trap, do they? (apologies if you do), anyway if you are one of the readers I've had please review, also beta reader position still up for grabs, thanks! Now, no time to delay, there bandits to slay!

_The guards in Windhelm where observant_ Nicchi thought, _But no where near as observant as the ones in Cyrodiil, they seem to be able to detect theft from a mile away_ she added as an afterthought, as they passed by the guards just outside the icy city, with the guards inquiring why Alric was walking around without armor or weapons, he responded saying that he was just going for a quick stroll around the area, she was relieved when they got out of the general area of guard patrol, she was startled when Alric started to talk "see that fort just over the ridge? Thats Fort Darven, nasty place filled to the brim with bandits, wouldn't mind stopping there and clearing it out, I've got a bounty on the leader of that place worth two thousand septims, here take a look" he said as he handed her the slip of paper, and sure enough on the bottom of the paper was written; _two thousand septims to whoever can take out the leader of that forsaken Fort Darven, and an extra fifty for every other bandit killed and proved dead_, as Nicchi read her eyes started to widen, two thousand septims was enough to get them both a horse and the extra rewards should supply them for the rest of the trip, "how much of a detour from the path is it?" Nicchi questioned, "about an hour, give or take" her eyes where practically falling out of her head by that point _over two thousand septims just for killing a few lousy bandits, and its not even that much of a detour, time we could easily make up for on horses anyway_, "lead the way" she commanded with newfound enthusiasm

Fort Darven was massive, _more of a castle than a fort_, Nicchi mused, as they approached the looming fort she spied two bandits guarding the front entrance and another two patrolling around, she was about to tell Alric to wait for her to take them out when she saw he was already behind one of the patrolling bandits, she stared in wonder as Alric snuck up behind him and wrapped an arm around the bandits neck and twisted it, with a sickening snap the bones gave way and Alric heaved the body over his shoulder and began to sneak back towards Nicchi, he smirked at the stunned look on her face, he dropped the body next to her, and pulled an iron dagger from his boot and cut of the bandits right thumb, making her jump back in disgust from the messy job, noticing her grimace he explained "quite a common way to keep count on jobs that involve a kill count is to cut off the right thumb" he said, grabbing the bandits coin purse and emptying the coins into his hand as he scooped up the thumb and put it into the purse "looks like this bandit was living the high life, I say theres about one hundred septims here" he commented before she pulled out her coin pouch and he stuffed the money into it, looking down at the bandit again she pulled of the great-sword from his back "here put this on" she whispered as she passed him the great-sword "only iron?" he grumbled back before pulling the iron great-sword onto his back. Inside the fort they encountered more bandits, each one meeting a swift end to either Nicchi's dagger or Alric's great-sword, each one losing their right thumb, that was until a bandit hit Nicchi's broken arm, light burst out around her as the bandit kneed her in the chin, she tried getting back up but the bandit stepped on her stomach, pinning her down, knowing that fighting back is useless, she closed her eyes waiting for the end, when the pressure from her stomach was removed she looked up to find nearly a meter of metal protruding from his chest before everything went black. When Nicchi woke up she was surprised to find herself in a bed, not a very good one granted, but a bed all the same "ah good your finally awake" commented a man dressed in full steel plate armor with a silver great-sword his voice sounded oddly familiar "w-who are you" the man seemed to pause for second before resuming what seemed to be cooking food "is it really that hard to recognize me with this helmet on?" suddenly realizing who it was and feeling all the stupider for not noticing it sooner "Alric? Where did you get that armor" he just pointed to a unconscious man tied to a chair, she propped herself up on her arms and was surprised to find that it didn't hurt "did you heal my arm?"

"after getting hit by one too many swords I decided to pick up the healing arts a little while ago and they have served me well"

"the leader? Is he alive" she asked, and he just threw her a bloody sack "take a look" to commanded, when she opened it to see dead eyes staring back up at her Nicchi shrieked, dropping the sack and Alric fell over in laughter "hungry?" he asked in between gasps "what is it?"

"apple cabbage stew"he answered while serving some into a bowl "sounds good enough" Nicchi replied and Alric served up a second bowl for her before slurping his down and going for seconds, she went and grabbed the spoon on the table next the the cooking pit. Once they had gathered supplies to last the trip to the next town they interrogated the bandit that Alric had captured, and after he bargained with them claiming he had contacts with the dark brotherhood they agreed to let him go alive if he give them the name of this contact. "What did that man say the name of his contact was?" Alric asked "Miilah, sounds argonian, or maybe khajiit"

"so remind me again why we needed to get in touch with the dark brotherhood?"

"because you never know when theres someone who might need killing, and what better way to kill then use an assassin's guild?" _plus It might come in handy when the Thalmor decide its time to eliminate Ulfric_, she thought wryly as they rounded a bend in the road "it will get dark soon and it looks like theres a storm on the way, I say we set up camp here" she commented and Alric grunted his agreement.

Authors Notes~ Well the ending to that chapter was a bit abrupt and I'm sorry about that but I needed to end it somehow and thought this was the best way to do it without dragging on for another five hundred words or so, anyhow please review! It really can help me to improve the story, for example I think its going too fast in some places and way too slow in others so let me know if you agree or not, but now I'm rambling!

Keep reading and best of luck until next time! :)


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